


Wretched Exchange

by Ayleid



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Hopeful Ending, Implied Relationships, M/M, Near Death, Near Death Experiences, Resurrection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 01:51:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11281248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ayleid/pseuds/Ayleid
Summary: Prompt: Death visits a character’s deathbed and asks for one final request. He rarely actually grants them, but this unusual request strikes a chord with him.In Gabriel Reyes's case, there isn't much of a bed and there isn't much of a request but it still counts as one.





	Wretched Exchange

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silverette666](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverette666/gifts).



> I've never written anything this dark before but as you already know, I do believe Gabriel Reyes deserves a second chance. Here is my take on how did that go.

The static vibrated for a few seconds before the comline was functioning again.

“ _ Sir-- we’re not picking up any signs.” _

Time seemed to slow just for their sakes. The endless, slow hail of dissolving ash prevented their landing with the helicopter and thus, further examination of the area will have to wait. With the debris covering everything that stood there before, there was no way knowing what and… who would they find.

With all fibre of his being refusing to believe the soldier’s report, the captain of the rescue team strained all resolve he had, released a weak sigh and ordered his troops to return. Almost six hours later, the ash and thick clouds of smoke still barred them from entering the area of the blast.

. . .

Feeble and clinging to the last strings of life, the softest flow of air kept the last leaf of autumn clutch at the mother tree. Enduring. Cold seeped through the last memories of his senses.

One last breath away from fading. 

At last, silence has fallen. The echoes of nightmares were gone, along with the stream of orders, regulations. Over. None of the horrors plagued his mind any longer.

Seconds passed in such calmness and his mind began to question if his breathing was his own. Or perhaps… the fading of his thoughts with the embracing darkness was the final blessing itself.

With the minutes clutching weakly at one another, he only noticed the raspy, fray flow of air on his lips after a moment of peace drew a slow, peaceful halt at that as well.

A remnant of a distant existence tinkled inside his head, somewhere alongside his thoughts. He couldn’t remember how his body landed here. The blast was a violent flash, chiming in alarm with the memory of his feet losing ground. 

Then it all fell apart. All he has been building for so many years, all he has been part of… or was. Before it was all reduced to rubble… and then again to ash.

Hours passed by, haunted by the growing stillness around his fading mind. 

Is someone out there?

. . .

The presence made its lingering known for hours now… and the dying soldier had no means to steer clear of its way or growing curiosity. If it wished to draw closer… perhaps that’s what he deserved. A scavenger, picking flesh and bones which swore to protect this world at all costs.

A vulture of a kind he’s never seen before. Never believed they existed… but then, this one seemed to play around the debris, the flickering light of a dark shape sparking up every now and then in his vision, only to vanish not a moment later.

. . .

By nightfall, the creature lingered around his dissolving consciousness just close enough for him to sense a strange luminance touch the edge of his senses. He was not alone, yet the presence did not burden him any longer. The creature patiently waited for the end, keeping him company. 

The falling pieces of ash had already covered whatever body parts he had left… and the creature seemed to leave those alone… with the softest sigh, easily mistaken for a breath, Gabriel Reyes acknowledged the final approaching moments of his life. 

There wasn’t anything left for him to do. The creature’s gentle presence by his side softly suckled on his last remaining thoughts, sapping on his peace and previously unknown, blessed tranquility.

This is the end, my dear friend. 

Dissipating, fading like the sturdiest rock in embrace of the ocean’s endless waves would pale and allow time to take care of the rest. Gabriel had his own regrets… made more than enough enemies… now let time and the world take care of it. 

. . .

Except… 

“It was an honor to witness you, Gabriel Reyes.”

His vision had long since left him and yet the presence of the flickering light - a dark shape, essence of an ashen, frostcovered stillness - still kept him company. The voice echoed with the remnants of memories inside his mind, flashes of images, the strongest urge driving him to push forward in the midst of chaos. Faces of the fallen, the ones he’d soon join. 

“A true adventure you had,” the creature sighed languidly, its voice drawing the soldier’s mind closer and closer to the abyss with every syllable, every single vowel shaped by a formless entity to grant him final peace. 

“It would be a shame if…” floating above him, the voice continued gently suckling on his last moments of existence, his mind’s recollection of who he was, who he wished to remember, all the people he would leave behind… “someone would hate to see you go, just yet.”

Clutching on the final note, Gabriel felt the soft breeze of a breath escape his lips once more.

“So… if you had one final wish, Gabriel Reyes… I could entertain the thought of granting it.”

From the tranquil silence of his mind, a feeble thought echoed in the expanding void.

_ There was one thing…  _

“I’m listening,” the presence replied, voice lingering on Gabriel’s mind like a heavy, all-embracing duvet keeping the dissipating thoughts from joining the emptiness.

One thing… 

_ As long as he needs me, I need to stay alive. _

Curiously flickering off his chest, the presence floated closer to him, so close Gabriel could sense the foreboding cold seep into every fibre of his being with a dark essence which encompassed all his vision previously collected. Drowning, immersing into the depths, the embrace of a gigantic force… finally, he felt his soul finally find anchor in the bottom. 

“You are mocking me, Gabriel Reyes…” the deep, thoroughly masculine rumble coming from the spirit’s throat from somewhere above barely resembled the amused laugh it was meant to be. “Of all the things… interesting.”

_ As long as he needs me, I need to stay alive. _

“See… this is what makes you so human after all…” 

He needed to come back. He had… a responsibility.

“And when everyone thought you had none in you left anymore, I knew you did, all along,” the presence floated to his other side, drawing his attention along with the move. Time and space seemed to shift around their forms, crystalline darkness shimmering in frost and being molded, and that was when it dawned on Gabriel… he did not feel the grounding cold of debris underneath himself any longer. 

Everything, all that was him… melted into the all-devouring darkness.

“Our humanity plays tricks on us in the most unexpected ways…” the spirit added casually, and Gabriel silently agreed, seamlessly floating towards the spirit’s calling. At least Death believed in him, until the very end. “Gabriel, you have business to do. I was hoping you would join me but… it would be more beneficial to us both, if you stayed.”

_ As long as he needs me… _

“Which he does… and he will, more than ever before.”

... _ I need to stay alive. _

“And in that… you will have all I possess in my power and authority to grant. Keep in mind… the life you receive from me will not be how you remember it.”

_ As long as I live… he will be protected. _

“It is a wretched existence, a wish granted solely for its purpose, not for its means.”

_ As long as I live… he will be safe from me. _

“Go through this, Gabriel Reyes… and the world will crumble from what you’ll accomplish. Life, in exchange for your death.”

_ Give me life, so I can give him freedom. _

“As you wish.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope Macca likes this piece since I worked on it for quite a while and she might have thought I totally forgot about it but alas! I haven't, and here it is :) Thank you for being such a precious, lovely friend!! <3 #GabrielReyesdeservesbetter #SaveGabrielReyes #ReyesIsHuman


End file.
